air plane bathrooms

[sarahr]

My SPD dd (4 yrs old) is *terrified* of airplane bathrooms. She's not quite able to tell us why she's afraid of them. On our last flight, we offered to have her go with the door open (in case it was the small size) and that she didn't have to flush (since it is really loud). No go. Our trip to California was pretty bad and we ended up putting her in a pull-up for the flight back (5 hours each way). It was sort of okay -- she held in her poop so she didn't need to be changed -- but she was cranky, probably from having a tummy ache from holding it in.

She has another cross-country flight coming up, and I'm looking for ideas to make it easier for her. Thanks.

[Chamomile Girl]

Awww, poor kid.  I was really scared of airplane bathrooms as a kid too, and it was because of the way they sounded.  The noise was way to...alien.  Plus I was afraid that the toilet would suck me outside for some reason.  And then the windiness freaked me out too.

I don't think a pull-up is such a bad idea, but what worked for me as a kid was to have some special stuff (like princess toilet paper and sparkly soap LOL) that were just for use in the airplane bathroom.  Man, I wanted that soap bad.  Its something you could try anyways...with maybe a special after-bathroom toy for her.